When components are mounted on a printed circuit board, it is conventional to pass a terminal pin of the component through a hole in the printed circuit board (PCB) and then to turn the PCB over and apply solder on the back of the PCB to the protruding pin, so that the pin makes electrical contact with a pattern of conducting tracks printed on the back of the board.
There is an increasing trend to miniaturisation of electronic components, with the result that the component terminals for receiving or outputting signals are clustered in an ever smaller space. Where each terminal has to be soldered to a distinct track on a PCB, it is often difficult to ensure that there is a discrete connection made to each component, without bridging between adjacent tracks and/or adjacent pins.
This problem typically applies to electronic components such as integrated circuits and liquid crystal display panels (LCD panels). The invention is not however restricted to use with these components or indeed any other specific electronic components.